Lectures

In addition to performing concerts and giving workshops, Dana also is available to give lectures (always with a song or two mixed in) on a number of environmental, musical or self-empowerment topics (see partial list below). Dana has worked for over 25 years in the environmental movement. Universities often bring Dana to their campus for a daytime workshop or lecture followed by an evening concert.

Lecture Topics:

Corporate Globalization and the WTO

After the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers made corporations illegal. They’re not illegal anymore. In his talk, Dana discusses the history of corporations in the United States and how they came to have such phenomenal power. He also talks about how the WTO and World Bank affect labor, environmental, and social justice issues. Dana tells about his experience in the “Battle of Seattle” (WTO protests in December, 1999). He discusses the international movement against Corporate Globalization and how student movements around the world are attempting to shut down global economic forums through protest. And of course, Dana will get down and do the ‘John Travolta‘ as he sings “WTO Disco,” a re-make of the Village People’s “YMCA.”

Taking Back the American Democracy

• A Point by Point Overview of Voter Suppression & Election Fraud in the 2004 Presidential Election
• Election Reform: Taking our Democracy Back

Why would a government choose to use computer voting machines with no verifiable paper trail? (Hint: it’s not about reducing paper use.) Why would a government purposely put more voting machines per person (shorter lines) in some neighborhoods and less voting machines per person in other neighborhoods (longer lines)? Dana Lyons has worked his entire career organizing folks to take part in our democratic process in order to protect the environment, social justice issues, and our democracy itself. Now the very fabric of our democracy is threatened. Dana leads a discussion of what happened in the 2004 election and what we as a people can do to take our democracy back.

Grassroots Strategy & Community Organizing:
A History of the Environmental Movement

Over the past 25 years Dana has worked with many organizations from Green Peace to the Audubon Society to protect habitats and endangered species. He has toured around the world singing and speaking to raise awareness for critical ecological issues (see list below). In his talks, Dana discusses the use of community organizing, civil disobedience, and legislation that environmental groups have used successfully to achieve their objectives. Dana also covers the current environmental and sustainability movements and focuses on how student groups (such as United Students Against Sweatshops, 350.org, and the Student Environmental Action Coalition) are often leaders in the worldwide environmental movement.

Saving the Arctic Wildlife Refuge:
The Struggle of the Gwitchin Indians to Save the Caribou Calving Grounds from Oil Drilling

“The Buffalo are gone. But we can still save the Caribou.”
– Gwitchin Elder

Dana has traveled all over the Arctic Wildlife Refuge and performed up and down the Yukon River at Gwitchin Indian Villages throughout the Arctic. The Gwitchin, known as “Caribou People” are fighting to stop oil drilling in the calving grounds of the great caribou herds. Destruction of the caribou calving grounds (located in the north of the Arctic Wildlife Refuge) threatens the caribou as well as the Gwitchin way of life. Dana speaks about the latest efforts of the Gwitchin Nation and the Environmental Community to protect the caribou calving grounds from oil development.